Why Are Massachusetts Schools so Cash Strapped?
December 9, 2010Common Core Standards – Engaging Higher Education
December 17, 2010
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as The Nation’s Report Card, was created by Congress to provide the public with information about the achievement of students at grades 4, 8, and 12 in core academic subjects, including reading, mathematics, writing, and science. The NAEP is the only true national test of student achievement.
In mid-2009, the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), the board that oversees the NAEP, developed a new Business Policy Task Force to provide input to NAGB as it shapes policy for NAEP. MBAE nominated me to serve and I am pleased to serve as one of 13 members representing industry sectors across the nation.
Our challenges include defining 12th-grade student preparedness as it relates to postsecondary education and job training; and identifying the reading and mathematics skills needed for entry-level jobs and job training programs. One of our first tasks was advising NAGB about expanding outreach to the business community. The recent 12th grade NAEP assessment gave us a chance to do that.
On December 8, NAGB conducted a Webinar for business people across the 11 pioneering states that volunteered to participate in the first state-by-state 12th grade reading and math assessment. Massachusetts was one of those states and is featured in the Webinar. The 12th grade results are both interesting and compelling. These results are of particular interest and importance to business leaders, and the webinar gave us context to understand our students’ achievement, and the opportunity to get questions answered. The Webinar re-broadcast, presentation slides and related links to the report can be found here.. I encourage you to take a look.
Once again, Massachusetts students led the nation, gaining top scores. But, as Linda Noonan highlighted in her post on this topic, we still have work ahead to raise the percentage of students scoring proficient. The NAEP Business Policy Task Force will be working to do that nationally, just as MBAE is here in Massachusetts.